Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s medicine regulator has advised that people with a history of significant allergies do not get Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine after two people reported severe adverse reactions on the first day of rollout.

Starting with the elderly and frontline workers, Britain began mass vaccinating its population on Tuesday, part of a global drive that poses one of the biggest logistical challenges in peacetime history.

09 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Russia is ready to produce a coronavirus vaccine in Algeria, Russian Ambassador to the North African country, Igor Belyaev, announced yesterday.

"Russia is ready to cooperate with Algeria to design a vaccine on the local level," Belyaev told Sputnik, adding that he had discussed the matter with the Algerian health and pharmaceutical industry minister.

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s pledges to halt the separation of migrant families, address “systemic racism” and climate change are promising and could reverse setbacks during the Trump administration, the U.N. human rights chief said on Wednesday.

“He has made a series of promising pledges like the protection for child arrivals - and I think that’s fantastic that they will stop the family separation - and of course all the issues with the frontier, the border with Mexico,” Bachelet told a news conference in Geneva.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank will cut more costs, Germany’s biggest bank said on Wednesday, as it confirmed a key profitability target for 2022 that analysts are not convinced it will achieve.

The bank is in the midst of a major overhaul under Chief Executive Christian Sewing and has already announced plans to cut headcount by 18,000 and exit some businesses.

It is aiming to return to profitability after five years of losses totalling more than 15 billion euros ($18.2 billion).

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday as news about COVID-19 vaccines lifted investor hopes for a recovery in fuel demand and outweighed concerns sparked by figures indicating U.S. oil inventories jumped last week.

Brent crude rose 27 cents, or 0.6%, to $49.11 a barrel by 1218 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1> climbed 22 cents, up 0.5%, to $45.82.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday no British leader could sign up to the demands the European Union are “currently insisting on”, adding that while there is a trade deal to be done, the country would prosper without one.

“Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply ... then they want the automatic right ... to punish us and to retaliate,” he said in parliament.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson heads to Brussels on Wednesday for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a push to secure a trade deal and avoid a turbulent breakup in three weeks.

With growing fears of a chaotic no-deal finale to the five-year Brexit crisis when the United Kingdom finally leaves the European Union’s orbit on Dec. 31, the 1800 GMT meeting over dinner is cast as a chance to unlock the stalled trade talks.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: The European Union has given up attempts to play the role of one of the centers in a multipolar system and is entirely US-centered, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a video conference meeting of the Russian International Affairs Council on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: Law enforcement and intelligence officers have thwarted over 40 terrorist attacks in Russia in 2020, the National Antiterrorism Committee said in a statement on Tuesday following its joint meeting with the Federal Crisis Center.

According to the statement, Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov, who chaired the meeting, pointed out that "the well-coordinated activities of law enforcement agencies made it possible to prevent 61 terror-related crimes, including 41 terrorist attacks."

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/: The Akademik Chersky pipe-laying vessel has moved away from a supposed site of continuing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction and is sailing in the northeast direction, MarineTraffic portal reported.

The vessel is heading to Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost city. The Akademik Chersky, which has been called the possible option for completing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, approached the supposed construction site early on December 5.